Grain-riddle.



No. 807,355. PATENTBD 1150.12,.1905.

w. E. CAMPBELL.

GRAIN RIDDLE.

APPLICATION TILED MAY 15.1905.

WITNESSES WZ MMM i 73'}, w wgfiomes.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 12, 1905.

Application filed May 18, 1905. Serial No. 260,923-

To aZl whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1. WILLIAM E. CAMPBELL, a subject of the King of GreatBritain, residing at Detroit, county of Wayne, State of Michigan, haveinvented a certain new and useful Improvement in Grain-Riddles; and Ideclare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of theinvention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which itpertains to make and use the same, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to grain-riddles for assorting corn.

It has for its object an improved form of the perforated sheet whichcomprises the main part of the riddle.

In the drawings, Figure 1 shows a portion of a perforated sheet. Fig. 2is a plan of the same sheet. Fig. 3 is a portion of the side bar whichforms the frame of the riddle. Fig. 4 is a perspective of a portion ofthe perforated sheet or screen and its frame.

The effective part of the riddle is made from sheet metal bent toproduce a series of sharp angular corrugations or grooves running acrossthe face of the sheet and with perforations through the walls of eachgroove, a perforation of one wall being near the angle bottomingthegroove and the perforation of the other sheet between near the apexangle between two grooves. The sheet of metal is secured in a groovedside bar 2, of wood, and the side bars are held together by cross-bars3, which complete a frame holding the bent and grooved perforated metalof the riddle. The corrugations serve to turn the kernels properly tocause them to pass through the holes. It should be noted that the sidesof each corrugation are of unequal length and that each side is atapproximately right angles to its companion side and to the adjacentside of the adjoining corrugation, the short side of each corrugationbeing nearly perpendicular to the plane of the sheet as a whole.

In operation this riddle is given a sharp vertical jerkingrising-and-falling motion and a short to-and-fro motion, which causesthe kernels of grain to bound vertically and to advance over the riddlebecause of the to-andfro motion of the riddle itself. In the performanceof this movement the screen is tilted lengthwise to an angle of aboutthirty degrees from horizontal and with the short sides of thecorrugation facing the direction in which the longitudinal jerkingmotion is imparted. Some few of thekernels of grain fall directlythrough the holes on either side of the corrugations. Others fall uponthe comparatively long incline afforded by the side 4 and if of theproper size pass through the holes 5, whose lower edge is flush with thelower edge of the inclined side 4. If a kernel is too large, thenearly-vertical position of the side 6, combined with the next forwardjerk of the screen, serves to advance it toward the upper or deliveryend of the screen. The smaller grains or kernels of corn, which are tobe sorted from the larger ones, strike sidewise on the inclined surface4 and slip through the perforations 5, whose size is made a matter ofvery careful regulation. Occasionally a kernel which strikes on the apex6 between two grooves is worked forward through the upper hole 7. Thelarger irregular kernels, which are to be rejected, pass over the end ofthe riddle. The smaller thin and regular kernels, which are selected forseed, pass through and are caught in the receptacles underneath theriddle. This serves to select the thin regular kernels which grow at themiddle of the car from the roundish and thicker, kernels at the tip andfrom the regular and irregular kernels at the base of the ear.

What I claim is 1. A sorting-riddle for corn, having in combination witha frame, a sheet of metal whose surface is sharply corrugated the sidesof each corrugation being of unequal length and provided withperforations for the passage of grain-kernels therethrough, saidperforations lying near the base of one slanting side of eachcorrugation and near the apex of the other side, substantially asdescribed.

2. A sorting-riddle for corn having, in combination with a frame, asheet of metal angularly corrugated, the sides of each corrugation beingof unequal length and diversely angular to the plane of the sheet as awhole, the shorter of each of said sides having a series of perforationswhose lower edges lie in the line of union with the adjacent long side,and the long sides of each corrugation having similar perforations nearthe apex, substantially as described.

3. A sorting-riddle for corn, consisting of a sheet ofangularly-corrugated metal provided with perforations on each face ofeach corrugation, the perforations in one of the corresponding faces ofeach corrugation lying near the bottom and reaching to the line of unionwith aside of the adjoining corrugation, and the perforations on theother face of each corrugation lying near the apex thereof,

- substantially as described.

4:. A sorting-riddle for corn, consisting of a sheet of metal angularlycorrugated, the sides of each corrugation being of unequal length. theshorter of each side having a plurality of perforations adjacent to itsline of union with a side of the next corrugation and

